Shadow's Apprentice
by BemmyBean
Summary: While visiting Konoha, a powerful mage finds Naruto. Recognizing his potential he takes Naruto as his apprentice. Mass Crossover, NaruHarem, rating may change


A man walked into Konoha early in the morning. He looked young, only in his twenties and he was fairly tall, around 6'1", with a lean body hidden by his dark clothing that often caused him to be mistaken for an Aburame (at least the Elemental Nations). A simple black jacket with a high collar the encircled his neck and the bottom of his chin and silver clasps down the front, black cargo pants, and black boots all brought together by the small pair of black sunglasses that completely hid his eyes. His chestnut hair was cut short and his features were solid and somewhat angular.

He walked through the gate into Konoha with no trouble. The chuunin guards didn't seem to notice him. Which they couldn't, one didn't reach his level of skill without being able to pick up a few stealth spells. After all, darkness was one of his specialties.

He could have gotten into the village without sneaking in but he preferred to avoid needless attention. He was just visiting an old friend after all. No need to cause a ruckus. He didn't like drawing needless attention to himself anyway.

The man walked through the village before reaching a small house. He didn't even get a chance to knock on the door before the door was torn open and he was yanked inside. The tiny old woman inside hugged him tightly before gesturing to an open seat and running off the kitchen to get the tea. She was wearing a green kimono and had her silver hair tied up into a tight bun.

He sat down as she returned, sitting on the couch across from him and pouring tea for each of them. She took a quick sip from her tea to savor the taste… then tossed it at the head of the man sitting across from her. The cup crashed against his head and the woman began screaming "WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU SO LONG TO VISIT ME!"

He barely reacted as he wiped the scalding tea away from his face and he answered in a calm monotone "I've been busy."

"BUSY! WHAT THE HELL COULD YOU HAVE BEEN DOING? YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A JOB OR GIRLFRIEND OR ANY REAL FRIENDS OTHER THEN ME!" she continued to yell standing on her table and shaking her fist at him.

"Have you calmed down yet Wakai" he said completely unfazed by her outburst.

She glared at him but jumped down from the table. Her arms were crossed as she stared at him "How come I can never faze you?"

He sipped his tea "I've seen too much to be effected by a mad old woman."

"You're older than me."

He arched his eyebrow "Your point?"

A vein in her forehead popped out "I wish I still had my cup so I could bash it over your head."

"Good to hear. Now can we have some polite conversation?" She just gave him the finger.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Eight year old Naruto was running down an alley as fast as he could. The old bastard on his tail was falling behind and he had luckily managed to avoid any shinobi so far. All he did was steal a loaf of bread after all. He looked behind him to make sure he had lost the old man.

Unfortunately his lack of attention caused him to crash into a tall man wearing black. The man didn't seem to notice; however, because he was too busy thinking about the old woman had just told him to do…

_He opened the door leave when Wakai suddenly grabbed the back of his shirt. "What now?" he asked as he looked down at her._

_She didn't answer, instead sticking her head out of the door and cupping her ear. She apparently something she liked because she turned to him and said "Go down the alley to the marketplace."_

"_Why?"_

_Wakai gave him her best dirty look "Just do it you stupid bastard! And if you meet on anybody along the way pay close attention to his magic it might remind you of somebody" she finished in a sickeningly sweet voice._

_He shook his and said "Good-bye."_

_She replied cheerily "Good night I hope to see you again soon." Then she slammed the door in his face._

_He sighed and muttered to himself "Crazy bitch."_

'_Why does she want me to go down this alley'_ he thought to himself. A voice brought him out of his musings.

"Watch where you're going!" Naruto said looking up at the tall man.

"Hmm" he looked down at the small boy who was currently kicking dirt at his shoes. He reached down and lifted him up to eye level "Knock it off."

Naruto looked the man right in the eyes, or least he would have if the sunglasses weren't in the way "Why should I?"

The man glared at Naruto, but thought back to what Wakai said. He focused on sensing magic and nearly dropped Naruto in surprise _'This kids got a lot of magical power, not to mention the feeling of it. It's solid like his was the only difference is how bright it is.'_ He looked Naruto up and down "Hey kid, you look hungry how about I buy you something to eat."

Naruto looked ecstatic "Really!"

"Sure and we can talk while we're at it."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

The man watched as Naruto devoured ramen bowl after ramen bowl "So what was your name again kid."

"Uzumaki Naruto" he managed to gasp out between gulps "What about you mister."

"Gin."

Naruto continued to devour his ramen bowls as Teuchi and Ayame looked at the man who was paying for his meal. The only person they had seen buy ramen for Naruto before was the Hokage, so who was this guy. Naruto looked up at Gin "So what did you want to talk about?"

Gin looked at Naruto intently "I want to take you as my apprentice."

***COUGH***

Naruto began to cough as he choked on the ramen he had been guzzling. Teuchi and Ayame just stared at him in shock. Naruto swallowed his ramen and looked at the man wide eyed "Me?" Few had ever actually been nice to him, and nobody, I mean _nobody_, had ever offered to actually train him. And for this reason Naruto was suspicious "But why?" He asked with his eyes narrowed.

"I recognize wasted talent when I see it" he said in a reassuring tone, or at least as close as you can to reassuring in a monotone.

"So you can teach me to be ninja?" Naruto asked happily, his previous worries forgotten at the idea that someone actually thought he had talent.

Gin leaned on his hand "Ninja? No. I can teach you to be something even stronger."

Naruto had stars in his eyes _'Stronger then a ninja.'_

Then Gin dropped the bomb "But you need to leave the village."

A horrified look covered Naruto's face, as well Teuchi's and Ayame's, "Leave the village? But if I do that I can't be Hokage."

"And why do you want to be Hokage?" he asked with a slight bit of interest in his voice.

A grin covered the boys face "Because once I am Hokage everybody will have to acknowledge me!"

"Hmm" Gin stood up out his seat "Personally I always thought if people refuse to acknowledge you for you in the first place then they're not worth the effort." He reached into his pocket and placed a stack of gold coins on the counter in front of a wide eyed Teuchi "If you're interested meet me at the gates in say… two hours." Naruto watched the man leave and couldn't help but notice that the man's left hand was firmly bandaged. Not a single speck of skin showed through _'I guess he hurt his hand somehow.'_

He shook his head and focused. This guy said that he had wasted talent and offered to train Naruto, which was good. He also wanted Naruto to leave the village, which was bad.

Teuchi looked at the conflicted Naruto "You should go."

Both Naruto and Ayame looked at the old ramen chef in shock. "What?" they said in unison.

Teuchi nodded resolutely and gripped Naruto's shoulder in a reassuring hold "He's right. While you're here you are never going to become strong enough to be Hokage." He had stern look on his face as he said "If this man really wants you to become his apprentice then you should go."

Naruto looked down into his half finished ramen bowl "But what about Hokage-jiji?"

"I'm sure that if anyone would understand your wish to become stronger outside the village, it is Hokage-sama."

Naruto clenched his hands as he thought. And then just as suddenly his hands loosened as he looked up at Teuchi with a reluctant smile on his face "You're right."

"Good, now go pack your things and meet Gin at the gate." Naruto jumped out of his seat and ran off "And be quick about it!"

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

"Took you long enough" Gin looked at the panting boy. He had sprinted to his house, grabbed all his clothes, and sprinted to the gate. He was carrying an old damaged bag that seemed to contain everything he owned "Ready to go?"

He barely waited for Naruto's nod before turned on his heel and set off along the road at a brisk pace. Naruto rushed after him as they exited the gate out of Konoha. The two guards completely ignored them; they didn't worry about people living the village only people coming into it.

Kotetsu looked up from his crossword puzzle at Izumo who was seated next to him "Wasn't the person that just left that Naruto kid?"

Izumo looked at him like he was crazy "No way. Naruto has blond hair and blue eyes" he said with a sure look on his face "while that kid that just left had blond hair…and blue eyes." He sat perfectly still as he processed what he had just said and Kotetsu stared at him.

"SHIT! WE'VE GOT TO TELL THE HOKAGE!" Izumo yelled as burst out of his chair. Kotetsu sighed "I haven't even finished my puzzle yet."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"Why do we have to walk?" Naruto complained. They had been walking for several hours and his feet were killing him.

Gin sighed "Because suddenly using a transportation spell, especially one of mine which have to tendency to focus a lot of power, to move us when you have no resistance to magic at all will likely end with you vomiting and/or unconscious. Plus you need the exercise."

Naruto huffed in annoyance, but kept his mouth shut. He jumped when he heard a stern voice on the road behind him "Uzumaki step away from that man."

Naruto spun around in surprise and fright. Gin just turned slowly, neither relaxed nor tense, but calm as always. Down the road were three ninja wearing animal masks (badly drawn in Naruto's opinion). The apparent leader had tall silver hair and his mask appeared be some sort of dog or wolf. The one to silver hair's left had brown hair and a cat mask with markings to sides of the eyes. The last ninja was the only girl of the trio as well as long purple hair. Naruto had no idea what her mask was, though it had a thin mouth, red markings, a nose, and eyeholes it had no defining features as to what animal it could be.

The silver haired one spoke again "I'll tell you again, Uzumaki step away from that man. You are coming back to the village while that man is going into our custody."

Naruto wasn't sure what to do. He was being confronted by ninjas from his own village. They were telling him to come back, but he still wanted to achieve his full potential. He was pulled out of his worries when Gin said "Naruto pay close attention. I'm about to show you some of what you can do one day. Like take out guys like these in an instant." It was said with his same monotone, but these words had an underlying edge to them.

The dog mask and the cat mask didn't react but the weird mask began to bristly with anger. She didn't like being under estimated. As soon as Kakashi made a small sign with his hand she charged forward. Gin just stood there "You know you should never rush in when an opponent makes a boast…" a voice behind her stopped Yugao in her tracks "because you never know whether the enemy is being arrogant or honest."

The three masked ninja's eyes widened while Naruto had stars in his eyes. Yugao was frozen in shock _'No way. I didn't even see him move. He was just there and now he's behind me.' _The two ninja farther down the road had similar thoughts. She turned quickly pulling her sword out of her sheath only for him to catch it easily in his right hand. She tried to yank it out of his grab with no success, his grip was far stronger than hers and for some reason the blade had not cut him.

Kakashi attempted to capitalize on Gin's focus on Yugao by attack from behind. He swung his kunai at Gin's neck only for the black clad man to duck it completely and let Kakashi go flying past him.

*crack*

The compacted dirt and rock of the road split open as plants rushed out and began to entwine Gin's legs. Yugao abandoned her sword when the vines quickly wrapped his entire body and meld together in a gigantic wooden cast. The brown haired man released the seal he was holding when the wood finished trapping Gin as Kakashi patted him on the shoulder "Good work Tenzo. Now let's get Naruto back home and this guy to our interrogation department."

***CRACK***

Each of the shinobi looked in a mixture of surprise, curiosity, and horror as numerous cracks began to appear on the wooden cast before it shattered completely to reveal a very relaxed Gin "Of all the times I've had people try to trap me that one was pretty half assed. You didn't even use any seals." He looked at the sword he was still holding "This is yours by the way" and tossed it to the surprised purple haired ninja who barely caught it. He cracked his neck slowly and said "Now where were we?"

Yugao charged again, despite Kakashi's objections, and swung with all her might. Once again he caught it in his right hand. She struggled against his grip angrily _'This guy is playing with us!'_ Noticing her anger Gin decided to end it quickly. The sword was torn out of her hands and his right fist shattered her mask and knocked her unconscious in an instant, too fast for her to register the immense amount of pain she would be feeling later do to the numerous shattered bones in her face. It also sent her flying back past her teammates.

'_That is a dangerous punch' _Tenzo noted as he attempted to create something to defend himself, but it was too late. Gin had crossed the distance and rammed his foot into the man's chest. Tenzo felt his ribs break and he coughed up a generous amount of blood as his vision turned black and he too lost consciousness.

'_This guy is way too dangerous to be brought in' _Kakashi thought as he brought his hand into three familiar hand-seals "Ox, Rabbit, Monkey!" He braced his right hand with his left and chakra began to gather. It wasn't long before Kakashi stood with lighting arcing around his hand "Raikiri!" In a blur of speed he charged at Gin who stood there waiting for the attack.

And he caught it. One of the greatest assassination techniques ever created and he caught it. Kakashi gaped in horror at the bandaged hand that covered his own. He had assumed that the reason the arm was bandaged and kept in the man's pocket was because it was injured. It was for that very reason that Kakashi had tried to come from the left side. Not only was the Raikiri stopped in its tracks, but all the chakra that had gone in too it just seemed to disappear the second it touched his hand.

Now Kakashi had lost a large amount of chakra and was at the mercy of a man who had beaten each of his teammates' unconscious with a single hit. The each just stared at each other for a few seconds. It was Kakashi that spoke first "If you do anything to hurt Naruto, I swear that I will hunt you down and kill you myself."

Gin said reassuringly (yet still in monotone, not sure how he does it) "Don't worry, by the time I'm done with him, he will be the greatest Hokage ever."

Kakashi nodded slightly as groaned in pain at the fist that had buried itself into his gut. He collapsed onto his knees and thought _'I may have failed to keep him in the village Minato, but I'm sure he'll be strong.'_ He was unconscious before his face touched the ground.

Naruto watched all this with eyes wide and jaw hanging loose. He only snapped out of it when Gin walked past him. He ran to catch up and noticed that Gin's left hand was out of his pocket. The bandages over his palm had been burned through by the Raikiri. Naruto looked closely at the exposed flesh in surprise because the skin underneath the snow white bandages was pitch black. Gin noticed his stares and shoved the hand back into his pocket.

Naruto shook his hand to regain his focus and looked up at Gin in awe "Wow, will I be able to do that?"

"Yes now stand next to me and be very still" Gin said as he stood in the middle of the road with his arms spread wide.

"What are we doing?" he asked as he stood next to the man.

"I don't want any more ninjas slowing us down, so I'm taking a more direct route to our destination" he said as ethereal, dark blue gears appeared around Gin's wrists and a second larger pair appeared around his hands. A lighter blue sphere appeared around them also marked with numerous interconnected gears of all shapes and sizes. Gin's own gears locked in with the others and he looked down at the wide eyed Naruto who was trying to take in the numerous overlapping bits of machinery that made up the magical sphere.

"Universitas Amoveo Apparatus" the gears over Gin's hand began to turn, as did all the others within the sphere, and the world outside began to shift. Naruto suddenly felt dizzy like he had been spun around really fast and then flipped head over heels a couple hundred times. And then just as suddenly his world turned black.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"Explain to us again how you lost our jinchuriki Kakashi" Danzo looked at the young man who stood perfectly still in the center of the Hokage's office. He saw Sarutobi glare at him out of the corner of his eyes, but he had more important things to worry about. The village had lost one its greatest weapons to a man who appeared out of nowhere.

Kakashi cleared his throat before repeating his report to the waiting Hokage as well the two advisors, Homura and Koharu, and the war hawk Danzo "After Hokage-sama had sent me and my teammates after Uzumaki Naruto and his unknown companion, we confronted both on a road only a few miles away from the village. That caused me to assume that the man Naruto was with either wasn't aware of Naruto's status in the village, so he thought that he could leave without any problems or didn't know how to run on treetops. In either case I believed that the man couldn't be much of a threat, possibly a merchant who saw Naruto as possible apprentice or a thug. "

Danzo spoke up "Is it fair for me to assume that _you_ assumed wrong."

Kakashi winced "Yes. The man managed to completely over power me and my teammates. He knocked both Tenzo and Yugao unconscious in one hit, as well as break free from Tenzo's Mokuton and…" he seemed reluctant to continue but Sarutobi waved for him to do so anyway "He literally _caught_ my Raikiri." None of the others in the room reacted to that. Even if it was a huge shock, they had heard it before the first time he told them of the mission "Ultimately the mission was a failure."

Danzo interrupted again "Failure is a rather light word for it. Yugao is going to require numerous reconstructive surgeries and Tenzo's chest is, in the words of the medics 'half caved in'. Three of our finest ANBU including you, if we can even consider you among our finest anymore, were defeated in one hit each. And apparently the man you were fighting was, according to you, holding back!"

Now Homura intervened "Danzo is right. Uzumaki is currently in the hands of either another village or a missing-nin. In either case he is out of our hands and in that of our enemies. We need to send a larger team after him immediately."

A snicker drew everyone's attention to the door "I wouldn't do that if I were you." A smirking Wakai stood at the door "You summoned me Hokage-sama.

Sarutobi almost winced when she said his title. Wakai had joined Konoha during the Nidaime's reign as Hokage. She had never gone to the academy instead just appearing in the Hokage's office and offering her services. Tobirama refused until her demonstration in a unique series of trapping techniques that had closed off the Hokage's office and then later the entire village. She still refuses to reveal how she does them since she uses no hand-seals, only a bunch of six foot tall iron poles.

The Hokage looked at her "Yes, I did. You were seen with a man that was later seen taking Uzumaki Naruto out of the village."

Wakai smiled brightly "So Gin did take him out of the village. Good, I was hoping those two would bond."

Koharu glared at the spritely woman "You are aware that he would remove Uzumaki from the village?"

She leaned back into the couch she had sat down in "No, but I had a hunch. They'll be good for each other. Naruto needs someone to train him and Gin needs someone to help him open up."

Sarutobi stared her down, or tried to anyway, "He can receive training in the village."

Wakai looked at him so coldly he actually flinched "Do you really pay that little attention? While not everybody hates him, pretty much everybody he actually interacts with does. Even the kids and new merchants you shouldn't even have a reason to hate him have been influenced by those who do. The teachers at the academy despise him, save for one. Unfortunately that sole good one is so busy being a teacher, that he doesn't have time to teach him. The kid is being fed bad advice that will get him killed, if he is getting advice at all."

She released the icy look Sarutobi who sighed in relief "Besides, Gin will teach that kid things nobody here can teach."

"We should still send a larger team after him" said Homura.

Wakai snicker again "I already told you that you shouldn't do that. It doesn't matter how big a team you send after him. No mere ninja is going to take him down. I should know, I've seen plenty try."

Danzo was interested _'No mere ninja. What is this man that a ninja can't defeat him?' _"And why is that?"

Wakai had a smug look on her face "Gin is a mage. Not just a mage, but a Regius."

They all looked at her in confusion "Regius?"

"A Regius is mage that has transcended the boundaries and limits on normal magic. They're rare but every single one of them is extremely powerful."

Danzo had a hungry look in his eye, but did his best to hide it "How powerful could they actually be?"

Wakai let out a deep laugh "HA! One of the qualifications to be a true Regius is to have achieved some level of immortality, or at the very least extreme longevity."

Danzo's eyes were shining at this point while everybody else just gaped at her.

She waved her at their surprise "Oh calm down. If anything you should be happy. Somebody like that is training a future Hokage."

Sarutobi smacked himself to regain focus "So Naruto is coming back."

"Yeah, eventually" she stood up out of her seat and made her way to the door. As she opened it a young man tumbled through. "Oh dear are you okay?" she said in concern.

"Oh yes I'm fine. He scrambled to pick up the medical scrolls that were scattered across the floor stopping only to pick up his glasses. She nodded and continued on her way as the boy delivered the scrolls to the Hokage's desk.

As Wakai made her way home she thought to herself "Silver. What a strange hair color for someone that young."

Kabuto walked out of the Hokage tower with a smile on his face "Immortal huh?"

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto picked himself up. He fainted in the orb thingy so he had no idea where they could be now. He saw something dark in front of him and reached out to grab it thinking it was Gin "You were right, your magic does mess people up."

"And when did I say that?" a deep, rough voice asked. Naruto's eyes regained focus. The black thing he thought were Gin's clothes was actually black fur. Fur on the face of a horse sized wolf who was grinning from ear to ear, his mouth full of shiny, white, very pointy teeth. "What's goin' on kid?"

Naruto fainted.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"Immortal, you say?"

Kabuto looked up at his master "That is what the old women claimed Orochimaru-sama."

The pale man grinned a very nasty smile, the smile of someone who was about to dissect their first frog and enjoy it "A true immortal would be very helpful to my research."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Universitas Amoveo Apparatus – World Shifting Gears**

**Regius – royal**

**Conditions for being a Regius**

**Has achieved some state of immortality or extreme longevity (cannot be born that way)**

**Acquired massive amounts of magical power and capability to use it**

**Mastered a unique form of magic. Not necessarily one of a kind, just out of the ordinary for even powerful mages**

**Character Files**

**Name: Gin (aliases The Void, Space Magician, Mr. Mars)**

**Age:?**

**Specialty Magic:?**

**Other Types of Magic: Spatial, Darkness, Gravity**

**Bio: Little is known of his life or family. He refuses to talk about either save for within the past hundred years. He literally appeared from nowhere about hundred years ago in numerous places with few, if any recorded instances before that.**

**He saved a young Wakai from a group of bandits that were attacking her village. Wakai, impressed by his power, followed and pestered him for a full month until he caved in and agreed to teach her magic. She is currently one of his few genuine friends.**

**He had a brief stint with the mercenary group "The Galaxy" as Mr. Mars. He later quit the group because in his own words they were "a group of dumbasses who worry more about codenames, uniforms, and individual theme songs then actually performing missions. Fuck those guys." He would later blow up their headquarters and beat all the members near death. He submitted his two weeks' notice a day later. This is the only recorded instance of Gin actually being angry.**

**XXX**

**Well, this is the first chapter to my new story. This will be a mass crossover, so reviews, opinions, and ideas for series or pairings are always appreciated. People who are worried that Gin will be over powered, don't worry I've got people at his level for him to fight. Next is a chapter for Naruto's Stand then Living Weapon.**

**-Bemmybean**


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